The Rustic Wheelhouse

Charming Italian restaurant — homemade pasta and pizza are to die for!

We had a fantastic experience last night! The service was so friendly and attentive and the piano player was a wonder touch, not to mention the food was delicious! Great experience all around!

We had an absolutely wonderful dinner here last night. Our party ordered the chicken parm, parchment salmon, and veal francaise. Each of us raved about our meals. My veal was melt-​in-​your –mouth tender. The service was attentive and cordial. We were greeted by the owners personally. The menu was extensive and the prices were well within an acceptable range. This place in a hidden gem in the old village of Chester. It’s well worth a visit. We will be back.

We had our Holiday Party here on Thursday. My coworkers and I could not stop raving about the amazing food and atmosphere. We had hot homemade bread right out of the brick oven; Hot Antipasto; Chicken Parm; NY Strip & Eggplant Rollatini. It was perfection from start to finish. Beautiful restaurant like no other. Owner Tony, and his staff went beyond their duty to make sure we had everything we needed. We are definitely going back. I highly recommend this gem!

Unfortunately we never even had a chance to sit down and eat so this is a review for the service only. My Boyfriend, myself and another couple came here on a Saturday night, because I had heard good things from my clients and the reviews on Unilocal sounded good.
We walked in the door and there was already a large group waiting for the hostess. This group stood around maybe 10 minutes before the hostess appeared to take their reservation name. after Taking the group’s name she informed that that it would be another 5 minutes. Now in this time we were standing behind this group and the hostess did not acknowledge us once. Finally that group was seated, and we were now standing alone by the hostess station and not a single person had said a word to us. I finally flag down a waiter and ask if the hostess is availible. he told us that she would be up in a minute. Finally this woman finally comes back looking flustered (i don’t know why because half the tables in the restaurant were empty) and asked us in a rather nasty voice if we had a reservation. we told her we didnt and she then informed us it would be a 45 minute wait. Meanwhile half the tables in the place are EMPTY. At this point a woman from the bar came over and told us that the exact same thing happened to her. so we finally just decided to go over to allan’s falafel and grab food.
Its a shame because i will never spend a single cent in this establishment, and I will be sure to tell all my clients not to either. First impressions are everything!

Let me just say the service was amazing in this place. Our server Tiffany was accommodating and attentive. The owner greeted us and make sure we were happy with our orders. The food was amazing. I oredered the chicken parm, my bestfriend ordered the ribeye steak… both dishes were perfect! Freshly made and they came out pretty quickly. If I lived closer I’d definitely frequent this restaurant. I encourage everyone to visit this restaurant!
Aldo. try the white sangria, to die for!

Food is great. The chef doesn’t just cook the food, he always greets the people he made the meal for to make sure they enjoyed his work.

I’ve been to the Rustic Wheelhouse a few times over the last year. The food is exceptionally good, the selection of craft beer is remarkable, and the service is as personal as it gets. Tony (chef/​owner) is a gifted artist in the kitchen and I can personally vouch for both the steaks and the (insanely good) homemade ravioli. Alas, nobody is perfect, and it seems that the chicken dishes are not their strong suit. As far as I can tell, however, everything else is off-​the-​charts awesome. Highly recommended!

The ONLY good thing (sometimes) about this place is the service. I feel like they truly hold this place up. I am shocked to see them still open. Food takes up to an hour, sometimes is cold or just tastes like crap. Owners make excuses upon excuses, they have no idea what they are doing. As someone who works in the restaurant industry I always pay attention to the cleanliness of a restaurant and this place is filthy. TRUST ME your money is better invested somewhere else!!! I do have to give credit where it’s due, though, and the pizza is very very good here. They should close the upstairs and just do take out pizza.

Worth going out of the way for this restaurant.
The building and décor is very authentic rustic rural. The place has a long history over the last 50 years, its great that its still going strong.
The food is classic Italian, we had the Calamari — perfectly breaded and cooked with a nice spicy marinara. The Shrimp scampi and Chicken Parm were both excellent.
Service was on point, server and management were over to the table frequently. Very friendly people. Even had a visit from the chef.
Pricing is very reasonable given the beautiful dining room (have you been to the place across the street?)
They have a wood fired oven for pizza, will try that next time. The table bread that came out of there was fantastic!
Go here.

Great quaint restaurant downtown Chester. Atmosphere is relaxing and great for unwinding. Tony the owner and chef makes sure you are having an experience that keeps you coming back. Marion the manager is wonderful and very accommodating. The food is great and they always look to provide the best service! Untapped gem as far as I’m concerned!

Fantastic food and even better service! Cozy atmosphere with waiters that are extremely accommodating. The brick oven pizza is a must try. The Rustic Wheelhouse is exactly the restaurant Chester needed! Can’t wait to go back!

I enjoyed this — better than I expected. Good food and good service, prices about the same as everyone else. Quiet, no rushing. Definitely going there again

Everything we ate was fantastic! The pizza was some of the best I have ever had (even better than NYC’s pizza!). Also tried the Wheelhouse Chicken which was very tasty. Finished with a Peruvian brownie for dessert which was out of this world. Service was great — waitress and owner were very friendly and made sure we enjoyed everything. Will definitely return.

The first two times here were great. The food was great. Our waiter both times was a guy named John, who was great. Just took my entire family here, including my mother in law (7 of us) for mothers day. The restaurant wasn’t crowded at all and they were late with everything, Arrived at 2pm and by 3:45pm no main courses served. I told them to bag the two burgers for the kids and walked out. Never going back.

Stopped by on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. Food was good and our waiter (John) was fast and friendly. Not from the area, but I’ll visit again the next time I’m near Chester.

OMG this was one of the worst experiences ever! Thought we were on candid camera it was so bad. The waitress left for a good 35 minutes, two of our four meals was wrong. When the last meal finally came it was 1 ½ after we got there. We just had them pack up our meal. The owner was nice enough to buy us around of drinks (thank god because we were there so long) but then tried to charge us for them on our bill, honestly it just getting worse and worse. Never will I go back there again.

Just dropped in thinking I would go to Clayton Delaney’s for lunch. They’re closed Mondays apparently though, so I dropped in here across the street. So glad I did! The bartender John is wonderful… Cheerful, magnetic personality… We ended up staying even longer and got more drinks because he is really fun to talk to! A great bartender really enlivens a place, and this guy is a gem!
Food is great too… Interesting offerings and a cool atmosphere! This place is far from where I live, but totally worth the trip! 5 stars

I had Christmas Eve dinner here with my family and it was A+++++.
The specials were amazing. I am still dreaming of the mushroom risotto and the scallops were cooked perfectly. On an earlier occasion here I had dessert… their chocolate mouse is OUT OF THIS WORLD! The coffee is delicious and the atmosphere is just beautiful, warm, and inviting. The staff is always friendly, attentive, and warm. I love coming here when the occasion arises. Bravo!

I just finished the best Chicken Alfredo pizza I hv ever had!
They hv a wood burning brick oven… order it crispy… yummy.
Lobster ravioli was lovely.
So happy to hv found a nice «go to» restaurant in Orange County.
Carolyn is a very attentive waitress.